52 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



the right, and the other to the left, thus evidently 

 separating them to prevent a renewal of the conflict." 



I have never witnessed a Robin as fearless as one I 

 saw many years ago at Fir House, near Tallaght, 

 Co. Dublin. As we stood in a group around the owner, 

 Mr. Handcock, whilst he held some crumbs in his hand, 

 a Robin would fly over our shoulders, snatch a crumb, 

 and quickly depart, as quickly to return, quite unabashed 

 by the strangers in conversation with his old friend. 



The nest of the Robin is usually placed upon the 

 ground, or very near it, seldom, if ever, in a tree, but 

 frequently under a bush or upon some hedge-bank. 

 The eggs, five or six in number, are white, a reddish- 

 white, with darker red spots at the larger end. The 

 Robin's nest has been found in some very extraordinary 

 situations. Bishop Stanley says : " A pair of Robins 

 took up their abode in the Parish Church of Hampton, 

 in Warwickshire, and affixed their nest to the Church 

 Bible, as it lay on the reading-desk. The vicar would 

 not allow the birds to be disturbed, and therefore 

 supplied himself with another Bible, from which he read 

 the lessons of the day. A similar instance occurred 

 at Collingbourne, Kingston Church. The clerk, on 

 looking out the lessons for the day, perceived some- 

 thing under the Bible in the reading-desk, and in a hollow 

 place, occasioned by the Bible's resting on a raised 

 ledge, found a Robin's nest, containing two eggs. The 

 bird, not having been disturbed, laid four more, which 

 were hatched on the 4th of May. The still more extra- 

 ordinary part of the story is, that the cock bird actually 

 brought food in its bill during Divine Service, which is 

 performed twice every Sunday ; and it is further highly 



